Today, I learned a lot about book censoring and how incredibly stupid it would be to allow parents to run the education system. Color me liberal, but some of the books they were disputing were AMAZING books. The Catcher in the Rye, for instance, is a great story for young adults to read because it truly describes the life. It's an honest look at life from the eyes of Holden Cauffield.

And while I agree that some of the books were probably not the most appropriate for the ages present, the websites I read went about it completely the wrong way. (you can see those sites here and here) The sites suggested that parents stop the books from being in the library because "it's your tax dollars at work." Meanwhile, the better solution would be to dialogue with your children on a regular basis about what you deem to be appropriate. How about ask them what they are reading in school? Or maybe get the book list for the year (it is possible, most teachers have all the books chosen by the start of the school year). Open dialogue with your child will only increase the understanding you have with your child and your child's understanding of what you deem appropriate. However, you have to face the fact that if your child wants to know something, he or she can readily find out about it through much easier ways than the school or public library.

Among the other things I have learned tonight are that Academic libraries define their sense of "place" by expanding into the digital arena. It is through the online areas that Academic libraries are growing their patrons and engaging their users. Meanwhile, Public libraries have to try and define their "space" through their actual physical setting. Public libraries often reflect their community through their interpretations of "space" by how they designate what areas of the library to be of more or less importance. Does the children's area grow because the population of young children has increased 20% in the last 10 years? Do we shrink the microfilm area because all the newspapers are now available online? Can we grow the computer access area because more and more people are coming in to look for jobs on the internet?

One last thing: I have three more books to catalog. It shouldn't be too hard. Here's hoping I can get it all done tonight.